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A Cross Method Analysis of the Impact of Culture and Communications upon a Healthcare Merger: Prescriptions for Human Resources Management

Steven H. Appelbaum and Joy GandellMCB UP Limited, 2002

The incidence of mergers and acquisitions has proliferated throughout the world including all sectors of our society, both municipal and industrial, private and public. However, the majority (60-80 percent) of them do not reach their intended objectives owing to the fact that the merging organizations do not realize the impact of neglecting the human resource factor. Although they properly assess and address the financial and legal issues, they continually overlook this critical factor. The present literature suggests what organizations should do to reverse these negative effects and how to properly address the human resources issues. This research seeks to test this list of suggestions, in the form of a unified model, employing the single case study method. The case in question is a newly merged health centre comprised of four well-established hospitals. Rather than a set of hypotheses, sets of prescriptions were developed to test the model. Data from interviews and existing documents are used to support or modify the final model. The qualitative results utilized a cross-method analysis that supported the majority of the unified model, requiring a few modifications. This research has subsequently lead to the development of a unified human resources model for the proper and successful implementation of mergers and acquisitions. The implications of these findings for all organizations, and for mergers and acquisitions theory and practice, are discussed.